


Chemistry

by Flufferdoodle



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Pokemon, Chemistry, F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27597872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flufferdoodle/pseuds/Flufferdoodle
Summary: Science is slow.
Relationships: Denzi | Volkner/Ouba | Flint, Sumomo | Maylene/Suzuna | Candice
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Chemistry

The lab smelled a bit like nail polish remover, a U shaped counter in the middle of the room with fume hoods covering each wall but the front. Candice shrugged on the borrowed lab coat, grimacing a bit at the faint green stain on the sleeve. Her signature braids were pinned up against the back of her head, and she felt a bit off balanced as she took a stool near the corner. Other students bustled around her, some of the apparent sophomores looking mildly amused and bothered by the first-years’ awkward shuffling into lab coats and safety goggles before they nervously grabbed seats next to strangers.

A pink-haired girl walked in last, face red as she took the last seat next to Candice. Candice offered her a reassuring smile as the professor got up from his perch by the supply table. The girl’s face darkened further and she dipped her head down.

“Welcome,” he declared, pushing his safety glasses back up from the tip of his nose. “My name is Professor Lucian. I would assume you’re all here for Chemistry 1001, or are just very lost. Either way, welcome.”

The chalk rasped against the board as he wrote, adding one more sound to the hums of fans and quiet chatter from the hallway. Paper shuffled back and forth as students scribbled down notes. Half an hour later, they were off to start their first experiment. Everyone seemed to freeze the second Lucian told them to find their own partners for the day, before quiet mutterings broke out.

Candice took a deep breath and looked at the girl next to her.

“Hey, do you want to work together?” she asked.

The pink-haired girl looked up, eyes a bit wide. “Uh, sure!”

“Great!” Candice smiled. “I’m Candice.”

“Maylene. Great to meet you!”

Awkward cheer aside, they got to work amassing a small collection of graduated cylinders and beakers and filters. They forgot to dilute the copper nitrate and the TA gave them a dirty look as they dumped in extra hydroxide to make up for it, but at least they didn’t break an Erlenmeyer flask like the group next to them.

“Do we just filter this?” Candice asked, studying their small pile of chemical goop.

“I think so?” Maylene said. “Um, I think he said to fold the filter paper like this, too,” she said, grabbing one of the little circular papers and folding it into quarters. “And then, uh. It becomes a cone somehow. Shoot.”

“Here.” Candice set down their beaker of goop and tucked her finger down the middle of the paper fold, pushing it into a cone shape. Maylene’s face reddened again.

“Right, sorry.”

“You’re fine!”

They dumped the copper hydroxide goop in and waited. And waited. And waited.

“It’s because you have so much,” the TA said as class neared its end. Every other group had at least started to pack up. “Just put it onto a dish so it can dry by Thursday, okay?”

“Alright!”

The rest of the class filed out as Maylene and Candice cleaned out their glassware.

“Sorry for keeping you long,” Candice laughed as they stacked the beakers onto the drying rack. “Should’ve read the instructions better, right?”

Maylene shrugged. “I suppose. I don’t mind, though.”

“Yeah, this was pretty fun! I’ll see you Thursday.”

_-line break-_

Blue laughed as Flint flopped onto the common room couch.

“Rough night?”

“Am I even allowed to tell you?”

Blue shrugged. “Where’s Volkner?”

Flint groaned. “How would I know?”

As if on cue, Volkner walked by, pausing to wave at Blue through the window. Flint immediately rolled off the couch and ran towards the door to catch up with him.

Maylene paused as Blue turned to look at her. He had that knowing look in his eyes, and she suddenly felt insecure about the little cyan hearts next to Candice’s name in her contacts.

“Gotta love October, right?” Blue asked.

“Yeah, Halloween’s fun,” she said quietly.

“No, I mean freshman mating season,” he said.

Her phone buzzed with the custom vibration pattern Candice had programmed in it the week prior.

_-line break-_

“I’m going to fail the final,” Maylene declared, slamming her textbook shut. “I’m going to fail, and drop out, and move to a cottage in the woods.”

Candice huffed. She was settled upside-dwn on the couch, one earbud in as she listened to some OakAcademy video on different atomic theories. “You’ve gotten at least a B on, like, every test.”

“You got straight A’s.”

“I took chem in high school. You didn’t. You’re literally fine.”

“I do not feel fine. I have no idea how to half the review.”

“Yeah you do. What’s the first question?”

“I dunno, something about lone pairs in V-S-E-P-R structures.”

“Why do you always spell it out? Just say vesper.”

“It’s not spelled vesper. It’s spelled vuh-sepper, really.”

“How can you fail if you’re that pedantic?”

“Because I can’t figure out the vuh-sepper structures. I just know how to read.”

Candice snorted and flung her legs off the back of the couch, launching herself so she was standing right in front of Maylene. She placed her hands on Maylene’s shoulders and crouched to look directly into Maylene’s eyes.

“You’re fine. You’re 100% a-okay. You’re going to pass, and you’re going to do pass chem next term, too.”

Maylene froze a bit. “Are you taking the next chem?”

“Yes. Maylene, I’m majoring in chemical engineering. I’m taking the whole sequence, dummy.”

“What section?”

“B2.”

“Wanna be lab partners again?”

“Of course.”

_-line break-_

“I dunno. I’m not really looking for a relationship right now,” Candice said, picking at her chipped nail polish. The dining hall buzzed around them, smelling faintly of pumpkin spice and unwashed football players. “Why?”

Roark shrugged, clearly disappointed. “No reason.”

Maylene shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not knowing whether to be relieved or disappointed. On one hand, Candice wasn’t into Roark after all. But on the other…

Well. She wanted their relationship to be more than some short-term freshman mating season fling anyways.

_-line break-_

“Wanna try this?” Candice asked. Maylene looked at the bottle of vodka and crinkled her nose.

“Is your RA around?” she asked.

“Red? Don’t think so. He doesn’t care so long as you’re not stupid about it, anyways. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Maybe a sip.”

Candice grinned. “Hold on, let me go rinse my shot glass.”

Three hours later, Maylene found herself face to face with Red as she held Candice’s head above the toilet in the women’s bathroom.

“I’ve got this covered,” she said with more confidence than she felt.

“How much did she drink?” he asked bluntly. Candice’s body shook as she vomited again.

Maylene gulped. “A decent amount.”

Red waited.

“Five shots.”

He nodded. “I’m going to get some water. Make sure she drinks as much as she can. I’ll be checking up. If she’s not improving soon, she’s getting transported.”

“Right.”

Red walked out, and the door slammed a bit too loudly behind him. Candice groaned.

“I love you,” she said.

“You’re an idiot,” Maylene responded, grateful that Candice’s eyes were fixed on the toilet and not on her red face.

_-line break-_

“How’s karate club going?” Candice asked. Maylene shrugged, elbow brushing against Candice’s as she swapped out the test tubes. A mess of spinach leaves crushed in a bowl sat off to the side, poorly dissolved in hexane and acetone. Their column dripped at an infuriatingly slow pace.

Science, it turned out, was slow.

“It’s going pretty well. There’s an MMA tournament next semester that I’ll probably be participating in,” Maylene shrugged. “It’s pretty fun.”

“That’s cool,” Candice said. “Can I watch?”

Maylene blinked. “Uh, yeah. The tournament?”

“Yes!”

Candice hoped Maylene didn’t notice that she walked a bit closer to her than normal on their way out.

Maylene hoped Candice didn’t notice how badly she stuttered every time Candice brushed against her.

_-line break-_

“I don’t know if she’s into girls or not,” Maylene said, head buried in her arms. Flint snorted.

“She is.”

“How would you know?”

“Because I do.”

“You don’t know shit.”

“Good point. Can I see your calc homework?”

“Fine.”

Flint smirked at Volkner. “See, you just tell her what she wants to hear, and she’ll give you anything.”

“Go to hell,” Maylene muttered.

“No, but I’m serious. She likes you.”

_-line break-_

“Do you think Maylene likes girls?” Candice asked. Gardenia shrugged as she watered the houseplants lining their dorm window.

“Probably. Her hair’s pink, after all.”

“Straight people can have pink hair.”

“Can they?”

Candice snorted.

“I don’t understand how lesbians find other lesbians,” Gardenia said after a moment.

“I don’t either.”

Gardenia hummed. “Actually, I don’t know how to find men, either.”

“Relationships are hard.”

“Very.”

_-line break-_

“So, uh, I guess I’ll see you in chem 3?” Maylene asked.

“Yes. Aren’t you cold? It’s literally snowing,” Candice said.

“Yeah, but I forgot my coat, so I’m just gonna deal with it.”

“At least take a scarf,” Candice chastised, pulling hers off. It was light blue and glittery and silky and nothing Maylene would have ever considered buying before. She found herself smiling like an idiot as Candice wrapped it around her neck, and Maylene found her face buried in warmth and Candice’s light, minty scent.

“Thanks.”

“Of course.”

“When do you go back home?”

“I’m flying out tomorrow night. You?”

“Saturday morning.”

Maylene conveniently forgot to return the scarf when they went out to lunch the next day, and held onto it all of break.

_-line break-_

Candice resolved to attend _all_ of Maylene’s future martial arts tournaments.

_-line break-_

“Ask her out.”

Candice groaned and buried her face in her pillow.

_-line break-_

“Seriously. Just ask her out.”

Maylene threw her pillow at Flint’s face.

_-line break-_

“Hey Candice?” Maylene asked. The spectrometer clicked slightly as it warmed up.

“Yeah?” Candice jumped a bit as Professor Lucian opened the door to the spec lab.

“How it going?” he asked. “The spec can be kind of finicky. You’re running the Chem 1003 method, right?”

“Yes,” Candice and Maylene said, a bit too quickly.

He eyed them suspiciously before nodding and walking back out.

The computer beeped and Maylene loaded the sample.

“What were you saying?” Candice prompted.

“Oh, uh…” Maylene fixed her eyes on the screen as the scan started. “I was wondering…”

Candice paused. Maylene gulped.

“I think I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Candice said after a moment.

Maylene squeezed her eyes shut. “Are you sure?”

“Maylene,” Candice said, “do you want to go on a date sometime?”

Maylene looked up, and Candice offered a nervous smile.

“Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> in honor of me wanting a gf and being sad at college in the time of rona, have some gfs enjoying their first year of college


End file.
